


Hit and Run

by ViciousRhythm



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Modern AU, my god, this is so innocent and dumb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 11:54:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6115671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViciousRhythm/pseuds/ViciousRhythm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I hit you with my car and was the only one to visit you in the hospital."</p>
<p>Rey is a good driver, really. She is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hit and Run

Let the record show that Rey is normally a very good driver. She can break down and rebuild her own car if need be, so she knows it in and out and her driving shows it. Normally. Today not being a normal situation, of course. Today, Rey managed to somehow drop her morning bagel in her lap just in time to not see the man crossing the street. Thank all the gods that are listening, she’s not actually moving that fast, all things considered.

 

Rey slams on the brakes the second she feels her car collide with something, but it’s of course not fast enough. By the time she shoves the car into park and trips her way out, the man she’s hit is lying a good five feet away, curled into himself.

 

“Oh god!” Rey makes it over to him faster than the bystanders, but only just. She can hear someone behind her calling 911, and focuses on the man. He’s favoring his left side, and she figures that’s where she must have hit him  _ with her car, what is wrong with her? _

 

“Don’t move,” she says urgently, panicking and calling on what she thinks someone once told her about physical trauma being worse if you move around. Either she hit him harder than she thought and he’s already in shock, or he has a tolerance for pain that is admirable, because he glares at her like his biggest issue is how obvious her advice is.

 

“You think?” he grits out, and then Rey has to assume she really did hit him very hard, because he loses consciousness. There’s a nasty gash across his face, god knows what from, but the sight of blood dripping down his chin nearly sends Rey into unconsciousness as well. Thankfully, her own panic gets pushed back due to the fact that Rey has never shrugged off things that are her fault, and she won’t start now.

 

The 911 caller is a middle-aged woman, who Rey stands near until she can manage to cut in and explain that she was the driver, and she’ll be staying on the scene, of course. All that’s left to do after that is move her car out of the way and wait. She leaves it to the helpful onlookers to take care of the man - she’s somehow afraid if she touches him, he’ll be hurt more, so she sits behind the wheel of her car until the ambulance sirens can be heard.

 

-

 

Poe told her not to go to the hospital, and probably Rey should have listened to that advice. He’d dated someone in law school once and had all kinds of legal tips and tricks to offer when Rey and Finn inevitably did something to get them in trouble. There was something about not having contact with the person Rey had managed to attack with a vehicle, because something-or-other conflict of interests if he decided to sue, but she can’t stop herself. The EMTs had said it was likely the man had a broken leg, as well as head trauma and the cut across his face. They’re equally at a loss as to what caused that one, though best guess had been something in the road or something he’d been carrying, since they hadn’t managed to get him awake and talking.

 

“Um, yes, hi,” Rey says, awkward as she could possibly be, when she makes it to the front desk at the hospital. “I’m here to visit-” And abruptly realizes she doesn’t even know his name.

 

The receptionist blinks at her, looking like this can’t possibly be the strangest interaction she’s had all day, and it gives Rey the courage to fumble her way through an explanation.

 

“There was a man admitted yesterday, with injuries from a car accident,” she starts. “Well, he was walking, I was in a car- The car that hit him. I’m sorry, I just wanted to make sure he’s okay, and they didn’t tell me his name. He’s tall?”

 

Her rambling has apparently gained her no sympathy, and if anything, the woman looks more skeptical of her now. Rey goes over what she said and realizes she sounds like a crazy person who just admitted to hitting someone with her car.

 

“I brought flowers?” she tries, hoisting the bunch of sunflowers as evidence. They were the most masculine kind Rey had seen in the store. It seemed somehow odd to bring him something like lilies or roses, and sunflowers made people happy, right?

 

Something about her expression must make the woman take pity on her, because she finally starts working at her computer, and then lists off the male car accident victims they’ve had the day before. It’s more than Rey was expecting, but she can narrow it down to the two men admitted before eleven in the morning. One is five foot six, the other a staggering six foot three, and she has to go with that one. He’d seemed a bit smaller when he was curled on the blacktop.

 

Ben Solo is in room 394, which is the room Rey has been standing in front of for a solid five minutes. She’s already had to move out of the way for one doctor and three nurses, but no one seems bothered by the weird girl standing in the hall with an armful of sunflowers. Finally, an elderly man goes by who pats her arm sympathetically, and that’s all the motivation Rey needs to walk inside. Against her hopes, he’s awake, and his head swings to her as she walks in.

 

“Hello,” Rey says after a momentary staring match. “I’m. I wanted to see how you’re feeling.”

 

“Kind of like I got hit by a car,” he says flatly. Rey winces. She deserves that one. “But I’ll live, I guess.”

 

“That’s...good.” Rey has no idea what she thought she was going to get out of this.

 

“I’m not pressing charges, if that’s what you’re here about,” he says. “You look like you’re probably having a time of it making the tuition payments as is.”

 

“How do you know I’m in college?” she asks, wary. She’s sure she doesn’t look blatantly student-like. Rey doesn’t want to get into the matter of legal charges, but she is grateful that he won’t be suing her. Not like he’d get much out of it.

 

“I could have looked you up when they told me who was driving the car,” he says with a shrug. “Or I could have seen you on campus before.”

 

He looks a bit old to be a student, but Rey isn’t one to judge, and it might be a trick of his circumstances. He’s bound not to look his best with a dressed cut crossing his face and tired eyes, his leg in its cast propped up slightly. She fairly sure he’s been unconscious or asleep for most of the past day, but he still looks tired, bags under his eyes showing starkly in his pale face.

 

“Well, you’re right about that anyway,” she says, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot. “I did get you flowers, though.”

 

As soon as she’s said it, she realizes his room is upsettingly bare. No cards, no other flora, not even the evidence of someone having brought him takeout. It leaves plenty of space on the countertop by the window across the room, and her flowers sit there innocently, brightening the room but drawing attention to the lack of anything else.

 

“Thanks,” Ben says, puzzled. He’s looking at the damn things like their some bizarre alien species instead of a gesture of goodwill. “You didn’t...have to do that.”

 

“It’s the least I could do.” Rey brushes him off, embarrassed by the genuinely touched look on his face. He’s got an open, expressive face, now that she’s looking. It’s a shame she managed to put a slice through the middle of it. And there comes the guilt crashing down again.

 

“Are you going to be okay,” she asks. “Really? Because they wouldn’t tell me much unless I’m related, and I didn’t want to lie to the hospital, so. Is it just the leg? Uh. And the face.”

 

“Yeah,” he says, smirking at her until it must pull at the cut across his cheek, because he flinches. “Just the leg and the face. And a concussion, but they cleared that this morning.”

 

“Oh god, I am so sorry,” she groans, falling into the chair beside his bed. “Have I apologized yet? Because I am  _ so _ so sorry.”

 

“Apology accepted,” he says, shifting around to look at her. “It’s Rey, right?”

 

“Rey Kenobi.” She puts her hand out to shake and manages not to say the very creepy ‘I know’ that comes to mind when he tells her his name. It’s a slow drag from the awkwardness Rey walked into until they’re making small talk about school (Ben is doing post-grad work with the physics department, Rey still working on her undergrad engineering degree) and whatever pops to mind. 

 

Ben haltingly admits he doesn’t expect anyone to come visit him before he’s released tomorrow afternoon. It seems he’d had a falling out with his friends only the day before she’d run into him (literally), leaving him without anyone he knows in the area. Rey asks about family, but all he’ll say is that they won’t be stopping by, so she lets the topic drop.

 

“I’d better be going,” she says finally, standing. Truthfully, she probably should have been on her way a good half hour ago, given the studying she still needs to do tonight, but it’d felt rude to cut their conversation short.

 

“Will you-” Ben cuts himself off, dropping his eyes to where he’s fiddling with the blanket over his lap. “Maybe you, uh. Would you come back?”

 

It’s muttered like he’d like to pretend he didn’t even say it if she says no. If for no other reason, that makes her want to say yes.

 

“Well,” she says with a grin. “I feel like I should bring you food at the very least. I’ve heard these places don’t have the best menu.”

 

His head pops up at that, eyes wide before he looks pleased. She’d been right in thinking his face is expressive. He’s cycled through all sorts of emotion while they’ve talked, but this soft happiness is her favorite so far. It doesn’t pull at the dressing on his cut either, so she doesn’t have to watch him flinch and get the now-familiar kick of guilt. She really hopes it heals up alright.

 

“I have this feeling it’s meatloaf again tomorrow,” he drawls. “Probably worse for my health than the car, honestly.”

 

“That just won’t do.” Rey’s face hurts a little from how widely she’s smiling at him, and she hasn’t clicked like this with anyone in a long time. It’s only a pity she had to hit him with her car to meet. “I guess I’ll have to bring you something else. I’m pretty sure trying to kill you is my turf at this point.”

 

Ben rolls his eyes at her terrible joke, but doesn’t look truly offended. She learned he’s got as skewed a sense of humor as she does. The reminder of it makes her drag her feet with leaving, eyes darting from him to the sunflowers and back, lingering at the door.

 

“Or,” Ben speaks up when it’s clear she doesn’t actually want to leave. “You could give me a ride home?”

 

Rey nods a little frantically, and can’t feel too embarrassed about it. “Yeah, I could do that.”


End file.
